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Trading: Primarily Energy but also a little Equities, Fixed Income, Metals and Crypto.
Frequency: Many times daily
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Posts: 5,057 since Dec 2013
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Well the current price environment represents the fact that not only does supply currently surpass demand, but storage is becoming very full as well. As such for oil prices to rally I think the supply-demand balance needs to (or is perceived to) change. I do not think that this is something that will happen quickly.
Looking forward into the future (many months, probably years out) I think supply-demand will over correct the other way. Demand is continually increasing and will continue to do so. On the supply side though, I think we will see some (many?) bankruptcies this year, and wells that need to be developed, because we will need their oil in the future, won't get developed. As such I think production will drop to the point that it cannot meet demand and we will have another oil squeeze. All just my opinion, and as I say, could be years to materialize.
Other Opinion's?
@klemenlogar, why do you think $60 is crude's 'fair' price?
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
When trading oil i use a variety of strategies anything from trend following, open range breakout, certain gann techniques, cycles, some of my own developed strategies that use time and price and here goes nothing risking to be ridiculed on here... i also use Astrology and have a financial Astrologer.
I trade long term contracts and day trade crude but never scalp i wait for my opportune time and trade. I think its important to develop a few systems and and put them in your toolbox as then you can trade different circumstances. My main strategy is great risk management, this is old news but can never be emphasized enough, its more important to focus on how to stop drawdowns than having a million different strategies. If you stop the bleeding the profits will come by default.
I trade Brent on London open and then switch to WTI by US open or carry through on the Brent, At times I trade the local Oman contract as well but liquidity isn't the greatest. I look at the sessions individually and also as a whole. I break the day down into sections and trade 30,4hr and daily, weekly and monthly charts. Getting a "feel" for the market is under appreciated in this Algo age and understanding the psyche of market participants, especially in the oil market as its a commodity we can't live without and many companies also have to hedge their positions as what happened not long ago in October at $50.
@SMCJB , @klemenlogar
One major factor i trade long term on is geopolitical/strategic interests especially in this region, this is a major factor in the oil trade that isn't spoke of as much as it should.
A quick example is the recent OPEC meeting anyone having dealt with Saudis and Persians would know that production would never be cut , Russians are huge players in all this too and one needs to understand the psyche and motivations of the different groups.
A big deal has been made of the over supply of Iranian oil coming back to the market, but the fact is that they continued to sell their oil under the radar through out the sanctions, same situation as in the Mark Rich days, the oil was still following regardless of what was being reported by politicians and the press.
Apart from all this there also factors such as the illegal crude trade that has always existed but recently is rampant due to the Syria/Iraq situation. It effects market prices much more than the media would lead you on to believe, as that oil eventually reaches NATO countries, it is not sold back to the desert. It has a severe impact on prices, i have had personal experience from a physical standpoint on this.
This is another factor involved that can make the supply/demand equation unbalanced, then there is China to name the biggest and all the oil storing they are undertaking and no matter what WSJ or Bloomberg tells us about China storage fact is we have no idea about their capacity, this is a country preparing for a another population explosion after lifting the child ban. There are so many factors to include into the equation.
Overall i try to keep things simple i have been trading crude a few years now and have been profitable. The best advice i was given and trading system i know of is risk management. All my risk is planned in advance and i never execute on emotion and my stops are more likely to be time based than price.
I use fundamentals and technical and look at things on a global macro level. The macro view and geopolitics are extremely important, why else would the US spend Trillions over the years to "protect" the Middle East. (oh and ignore the talking heads!)
I prefer Brent as it suits my trading hours. Brent is cheaper to trade for me and ICE commissions are lower than Nymex, liquidity is the same.
Main differences are that Brent is more of a financial speculation product than WTI, not many are taking physical delivery on Brent. Majority of physical Brent oil (GCC) is sold at a discounted rate, the Brent price is just used as a price guide to negotiate on.
Intraday both are well behaved on their own, but once UK(EU) and the US are trading on the same session, anything goes lol.
Since your in Australia i have had the experience of trading from that time zone as i worked in Sydney previously, i would personally focus on Uk trading hours and leave the US/UK session alone as it has great rewards but huge risks, you really need to have your risk management in place cause its when usually the volatility begins.
Thanks for sharing. Who are the major players in the brent contracts since it is more of the "paper" product. Does the physical producers trade actively in brent?
How about companies like airlines, bunkers etc ?
You are absolutely right about the hours, US session would mean I have to stay up late at night. However I have been looking at brent and CL for the past 2 months including their spreads, somehow I actually find CL price actions easier to read during the RTH.
You mentioned you are using a time based stop, could you elaborate? How many ticks do you usually aim for intraday?
Time based stops are important in my opinion. i.e. i buy WTI @ 5000 with a the idea i want to be flat by end of day. if i buy at 11 and the price at 1115- 1130 is still hovering around 5000 thats a bad deal. That means anyone can get in on my trade at any time.
time based stops means that when your entering the market you should be getting a great deal long or short, a deal so good that others can't buy in at that price 30 mins later.
The longer you hold a trade the more chances you have it will go against you, but in saying that i don't mean hold 1 sec i mean the longer you hold and its not working the risk goes up.
Time stop can be as simple as saying i give this trade X amount of time to work, if not i close it and reassess the situation, the market didn't behave the way my analysis expected.
Intraday moves i go for are small, i look for a 24-33 point minimum and use contract size to earn, always staying within my risk parameters on total equity. If it happens i caught the trend it can turn into 100+ points, once over 30 i use a tight stop to secure my profits. You be surprised how much money once can make by being conservative.
In my humble opinion Oil needs to be viewed as macro and geopolitical, i originally started out trading ASX many years ago and the reason i switched to oil was due to the real world factors that effect oil and the volatility, which then lead me to move to the Middle East to get more of a ground zero feel what what goes on.